The ban was finally lifted. By being the last person to say one of the forbidden words, Zhi Li had saved everyone from the punishment. This was what you called a perfectly happy ending, right? Ke Bu could finally go back to sleeping in his own dorm too. That night, he had barely lain down when he sensed that something was wrong. Something was moving under the covers, and then a sharp pain came from his toes. He hurriedly threw back the blanket, and his expression changed instantly. Two huge characters had been written across the bedsheet in red ink: “GRAVEYARD.” But that wasn’t what made his face change. Under the blanket were all kinds of bugs with sharp claws and vicious-looking jaws. There was only one person Ke Bu could think of who would hold a grudge against him and be despicable and vicious enough to do something like this: Dora. Trying to scare me? I’m not giving you the satisfaction. Ke Bu walked over to Zhi Li’s dorm, pushed the door open without ceremony, and climbed straight into the bed. “Let me stay here one more night.” “Then turn off the light.” “I’m sleeping on the inside tonight.” “The person sleeping on the inside turns off the light. It’s a law of nature.” “That’s completely different from what you said before!” “That’s what I said before too.” “……”
The next day at the club building, Chu Hao Yu was like a wild horse that had finally broken free of its reins, harassing every woman he came across. Zhou Xin He was his greatest victim. At that moment, he was rubbing his hands together like a complete pervert. “Come here, little girl, let me give you a squeeze. This monk hasn’t had meat in ages. Top or bottom, I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”
Elio’s Notes: Chu Hao Yu is joking with the image of a monk who has abstained from meat for too long. In Chinese, “eating meat” can also jokingly imply breaking a period of sexual abstinence, which fits his frustration after the ten-section challenge.
Zhou Xin He hid fearfully behind Su You Yan. “S-Save me.”
Su You Yan caught the hand Chu Hao Yu reached toward her and twisted it back. Chu Hao Yu ended up grabbing his own crotch. Su You Yan laid her palm over the back of his hand, controlled his fingers, and squeezed hard. Chu Hao Yu shuddered in pain. “I was wrong. That hurts. I really know I was wrong.”
Not far away, Ke Bu watched the ridiculous scene and took a sip of cola. “Yutai, you’re making so much noise I can’t read my manga.”
“All you ever do is read manga that doesn’t suit your identity. What’s the point? Did you ever read the BL manga I recommended?” Gong Zhu asked reproachfully.
“I’m not like you. Other than falling for Zhi Li, I’m not interested in any other guys.”
“Impossible! Don’t tell me you liked girls before you met Zhi Li? That makes no scientific sense. If you like guys, you’re supposed to be born that way and stick with it for life!”
“Your theory is what makes no scientific sense. Why can’t I be straight, straight, straight—and then suddenly turn gay?”
Elio’s Notes: The Chinese joke plays on 直, “straight,” for heterosexual and 弯, literally “bent/curved,” for gay. Ke Bu is joking that he simply kept going “straight” until he suddenly “bent.”
“As far as I know, aside from bisexual guys and people who were only pretending, cases like yours still aren’t that common among men.”
“Idiot. How can matters of the heart be decided by statistics?”
Gong Zhu had liked boys since he was very young. Over the years, even when he had tried experimenting, he had never managed to feel any interest in girls. If someone made him touch a girl’s chest, goosebumps would break out all over his body. That was why he couldn’t understand how Ke Bu could have changed his sexual orientation. “How did you turn gay? From what I’ve observed of your personality, you were a dyed-in-the-wool straight guy.”
“Don’t tell me you expect me to say it was the power of love, that heaven brought us together, that we were destined for each other. Dream on. At first, everyone goes by looks.” Ke Bu answered frankly.
“Haven’t heard that catchphrase of yours in ages,” Chu Hao Yu said.
“Catchphrases change.”
“Stop interrupting!” Gong Zhu still didn’t believe him and kept pressing. “What straight guy has his sexual orientation shaken just because he sees another guy’s face? If that were possible, wouldn’t Xiu Jie and Hao Yu have already—”
“Frog at the bottom of a well. Then again, none of you here except me ever saw what Zhi Li looked like in middle school, right?”
Elio’s Notes: “A frog at the bottom of a well” is a Chinese idiom for someone whose view of the world is limited by their narrow experience—like a frog that sees only the small patch of sky above its well.
Gong Zhu looked toward Zhi Li, who was drawing by the window. “Could he really have looked better than he does now?”
“How do I put it? Of course he didn’t look better. It was just a different style.”
“The same person can grow into two completely different styles? Hao Yu, you and Lord Zhi Li were high school classmates, right? Back then he—” Ke Bu interrupted Gong Zhu’s question. “He was different again in high school.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“I have proof.” Ke Bu glanced at Zhi Li to make sure he wasn’t listening, then took out his wallet and pulled out a photograph hidden behind his cards, placing it on the table. Even Su You Yan’s gaze left her book. Chu Hao Yu swallowed and looked back and forth between the Zhi Li beside them and the Zhi Li in the photograph. “This peerless beauty is really Zhi Li? His gender is way too ambiguous.” Ying Xiu Jie’s eyes widened. Simple-minded as he was, he rarely reacted much to anyone, regardless of gender. Ke Bu wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest. At first glance, no one could tell whether the younger Zhi Li was male or female. You could see Lan Yin’s image in him completely. Then, gradually, traces of Zhi Zuo Si began to appear as well. After that, the genes of those two legendary figures slowly blended together within him, becoming the Zhi Li of today.
“Let me photocopy one. Then I can show it off to people and tell them this was my first love,” Chu Hao Yu shamelessly demanded.
“Sorry. I own the copyright.” Ke Bu snatched the photograph back and returned it to his wallet.
“So back then, you fell for Zhi Li because you thought he was a beautiful woman?”
“Most guys don’t have much resistance to beautiful women. I only got the wrong impression at first glance. Besides, why should I tell you the reason I fell for Zhi Li?”
“Don’t tell me you have some secret you can’t let anyone know.”
“This is my privacy, isn’t it? I don’t want to turn into one of your data points.”
“It’s still worth studying.”
Ke Bu waved him off, shifted into a different position, and went back to reading his manga. “Studying me won’t give you anything useful to use as reference.”
“Tch.” Gong Zhu turned toward the protagonist who had remained completely outside the discussion. “Lord Zhi Li, you must know why Ke Bu fell for you, right?”
“Every part of me is a reason he likes me. Pick whichever one you want.”
Hearing that narcissistic answer, Ke Bu rolled his eyes, yet found himself unable to argue. Every part of Zhi Li—truly—was a reason Ke Bu had fallen for him. Any one of those reasons was enough to defeat the excuse that they were both men.
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